My first e30, finally. Latest Update: The Restoration Begins

[Click]

Installation of the ever infamous garagistic motometer gears...


As they arrived.



Close ups of the gears. Every gear except the tiny white one has a glossy side and a matte side. This must have something to do with the production process.

Notice the holes on the gear teeth.



Back



More tiny pits on the second gear.





Interesting molding marks.



Back



More pits on the 3rd gear.





Back was a little scratched up.



These little guys slid on top on the topmost gears and held them on.



Small gear. Seems to be the best made.






Little bugger is VERY hard to get on.



On



The plastic case on the other side of the the odometer drive shaft (motor side) needs to be taken off and the shaft needs to be supported by your hand while pushing the white gear on. I also used an exacto knife and cut a little chamfer on the hole on the one side of the gear to make it a tad easier to put on.









Not the best tooth contact but everything spins fine.



All installed.



Overall the molding of the gears is lacking a little, but the material seems very good. The old gears acted like rubber and were easily bent. These gears are stout. I noticed some noise from the odometer since installing them but I assume this is just them breaking in. Seems to be a good buy at $15.

[Click]

Well apparently the alternator does not charge with the cluster out, even if the bulb is in the socket. Ask me how I know...

[Click]

That vacuum tube/connection has stayed in place and the engine has been running like butter since I posted. I've recently really been thinking how fast I've been going through gas and since the odometer hasn't worked since I bought the car, I have not been able the check the gas mileage. I checked the coolant temp sensor, it was at 300 ohms at running temp so that seems fine. I might replace the O2 sensor next. But anyways I pulled my cluster up here at school with the steering wheel still on, its a bit of a tight fit but it can be done. My only issue was getting the kick panel off. There were plastic "push anchors" holding it in which were a tad difficult to get out. The bentley refers to them as screws and I looked up the diagram on realoem.

I'm almost positive it is #12, which lists the picture as


These look a lot easier to install and remove that what are in there. Also I am missing the screw/bolt that holds it up from the bottom. I would assume its 26,27,28 but those aren't listed in the parts below the diagram. Anyone know how to get a hold of those parts?

Now to the cluster... (61k miles baby 8))



Klein screwdrivers are the shiz btw


Remove all the screws besides the small ones behind the tach and speedo. Then slowly and gently lift the blue section straight up and out of the cover. This is now a good time to get any bugs or dust out from inside the cluster face.





Noticed my gas gauge needle is cracked. I don't think its going to fall off any time soon as long as it remains undisturbed.





Take the green plug out the back of the speedo. It just has a clip on each side that need to be bent outward and it slides out.
Now take the 4 screws out from behind the speedo while keeping the cluster facing up (gauges facing the sky). Once all the screws are removed gently lift the speedo up and out of the cluster bucket.

Then you have naked speedo.



To get at the gears you have to remove the clear plastic cover that is held in by 2 small flathead screws. (Can only see 1 in this pic)



THERES YOUR PROBLEM



Also the grease all over the gears was extremely hard. It was difficult to scratch it with my fingernail. I gently tried to turn the orange gear to see my odometer move but it wouldnt budge. I lifted the orange gear and everything turned smoothly. The old grease basically glued the orange gear to the black gear locking things up. The glob of grease on the teeth of the black gear didn't help either.





Also no bueno



I don't have gears yet. I'm going to see if the garagistic guys can hook me up with a set this week. If not I'll get a set elsewhere. Can a car be ran without a cluster in it? Also Bentley called to unhook the battery when pulling the cluster, would it be okay to hook it back up with the cluster not in the car?

I forgot which port I pulled the cable out from the green connector that goes on the back of the speedo. (one of the 3 on the right)



So I quick popped the pcb out and saw that all three pins goes to the same trace so it doesn't make a difference which one it goes in. Just for future reference.



It's interesting that there are so many unused connectors that go unused. I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they designed it....

[Stanley Rockafella]

this is a common problem on many m20's. Mine has it too but i dont' care to tackle that problem at this point.

[Click]

Sounds like a good lead but its not going to be until summer till I can pick up another trans.

In other news I went to drive my car back from school and it was idling like shit. It was bouncing from 450-1000 rpm and every now and then it would settle down to the normal 800. I popped the hood once I got to the grocery store and noticed that the top fitting for the top vacuum hose that goes into the throttle body was popped out a little bit (fully inserted in this pic however).



With little effort I got it to come out completely. Notice how the fluting is all but worn off.



Looks like the inside was once fluted as well.



These parts seem like they were pressed in at the factory and were never supposed to come out. Looking at realoem, there are no replacement metal elbows either. Most likely just assumed to be part of the TB.





I pushed it back in and it seemed to run just fine on the drive back home from the grocery store. I'm thinking a proper cleaning and some JB weld will be my best bet. Any other possible ideas?

Also I noticed it looks like my other side was already epoxied....

[TimKninja]

M30 swap will be in the future for my next e30.

My friend has totaled two e34 535i's 5 speeds. Just ran one into a brick wall at 60 mph on monday. If you have a problem finding a 5 speed, i might be able to help you.

[BoostinEuros]

I'm really enjoying your build! Keep it up!

[Click]

So I had thought that I could get at the torque converter bolts from the starter hole. Nope, chuck testa.



I did a little more looking around and there is an access hole. DOH





And off



I ordered a set of nice grade 10.9 bolts from fastenal.



And I must have been smoking some good shit when I measured and they weren't even close. (Pic is fully screwed in)



There's a good 3/4" of penetration into the block.



So the 100 mm ones were way too long, and since they were only partially threaded I couldn't cut them to length. I went to lowes and got a 70mm one. There was no grade on the baggie (like there was on other baggies) and I assumed they were junk bolts even though they were like $2.30 a pop. (which is why I only got 1)


Then I was taking pictures and realized that they too were grade 10.9.



So fml, it was dark out and I'm working in a poorly lit shed and I've been running all over hell today so I'll just get the other 3 later.

70mm fit is good.





Semi mocked up. Is the big rectangular piece supposed to be centered in any way? Is anything else backwards or anything? I've only ever used my engine stand with an aircooled VW motor and I had a special adapter for those engines, instead of using the adjustable type.





And yes I did run that engine on the stand. Don't worry about the exhaust bends either, a 16yo made them.

Also spotted this guy on the way. Real nice. I liked the sport seats and the biggedness of it. An e28 is def in my future. If it wasn't a slushbox I'd be very interested.



Also, a funny note. I was doing some searching around and I read of an urban legend of the #6 bore being deformed on m30s after sitting on engine stands for extended periods. I came across this a couple times. I never found any supporting evidence other than some guy who thought his cylinder bore was warped but turned out he bent his valves on #6.

Also I need to get out of school get a real job and get a cherry picker..

[CHIF8008]

looks like great work mate

[RIP_City]

Enjoying this thread. Keep it up

[Zacm829]

Yep, you either need a g260/6 from a E28 or an manual E34 tranny (good luck). You can also use a g240 from an m10 but I'm not sure of the torque they can hold, ask Otis...

Best of luck, boosting the B34 would be more beneficial than the b35, but I'm sure it will take well to it.

p.s. The hardest part is the drive shaft. :)

[Click]

I have a spare e30 g260 sitting around but from what I understand it won't fit and I need a g260 from an e28. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get in there. I want do it up real nice, with everything replated or powder coated and mechanically refreshed. I'm really thinking about strapping a turbo to it, and if I'd do that it'll be a twin scroll with standalone.

[Zacm829]

Get that M30 in there!

You will love the instant torque compared to an M20, I may have missed it but what are you plans for transmission?

[Click]

I've ordered the bolts and washers to mount the m30 to the engine stand (no one locally sells M8 1.25 x 100mm bolts short of a $30 box). Before I can mount it I gotta take the torque converter off. In order to take the torque converter off the engine needs to be able to turn. The po replaced the head gasket but never got around to putting the cam gear back on. When I first picked the motor up I forgot the the timing chain wasn't on and I turned the motor over a little bit, until I realized that I was putting it out of time. So I paid extra attention to the timing marks.

Engine as recieved.



Gear on. The Bentley says to put all the slack on the tensioner side, and most of it is on the tensioner side but there is a little slack on the other side, but there is no way to tighten up the non tensioner side without taking the engine out of time as far as I could tell. Also, one of the cam gear bolts was missing from the bucket of bolts I got from the po . :(




Anyway everything is back together and I can turn the crank now without hitting valves.



I went to work on the torque converter but soon realized there was no way I could get a socket or wrench on those bolts between the flex plate and the engine block. By then it was around 8 pm, I had a headache and I had just underwent a surgery last Monday, and am on the verge of getting a cold so I was totally exhausted. I went home, took a shower, and laid down on the couch and was out by 9. Didn't wake up till 8 today.

After some internet research, it seems those bolts are accessible from the starter hole. I probably would have realized that myself had I not been so tired or if the starter wasn't already in there.

[Bryan///]

nice work..my e30 is on the shop right now with a list longer then Zeus's di*k getting work done. Its also faded and rusty with stained interior and had the most mechanically inoperable front seats known to man. They were recently replaced with some Old Recaros, not exactly sure what type, I think the ones that came with the M3. Anyway sooner or later it will be nice and mechanically sound. My next mission to ponder is body work..